


Sharkbait

by ByTheBi



Category: Free!
Genre: AU, M/M, but it's mainly rin and ai, fear of sharks, i won't specify which but yeah, some other teammates may appear from time to time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-05-06
Packaged: 2018-01-15 15:50:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1310425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheBi/pseuds/ByTheBi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nitori Aiichirou has always been irrationally terrified of one thing- sharks. Sharp toothed Rin has no problem defending his roommate, but when the redhead's secret is revealed, Nitori's phobia may just drive the two farther apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is going to be a decent length fic. At least ten chapters, if this all comes out right. I don't have a particular update schedule, but I've had the first few chapters for a while, and I've been wanting to share. Please let me know what you think and I'll try to update whenever possible!

Chapter 1

“Good work today, everybody! Hit the showers!” Captain Mikoshiba called out to the Samezuka swim team. The men dispersed and headed into the locker room for their post-practice showers and to change.

Nitori hurried over to catch up with the redhead who had already begun to leave the pool room the second Mikoshiba announced their dismissal. “You were great today, Matusoka-senpai,” he exclaimed, grinning at the older boy. “I don’t know how you do it, but you managed to improve your time from last week so quickly!” 

“I’ve been training,” came Rin’s curt response as he headed over to his locker to gather his things. Nitori’s spirits didn’t deflate though, and he only bounded over happily to his only locker, only to let out a horrified gasp as he glanced at the inside. 

“Get it out, get it out, get it out,” he cried, squeezing his eyes tightly shut and slamming his hands over them. He stumbled a few steps back, turning his body away from whatever had scared him so much. Alarmed, Rin stepped forward to the boy’s aid.

Inside Nitori’s locker was a color printout of a great white shark rearing its ugly head out of the water with a splash, jaw wide open to reveal row after row of fierce teeth onto which drops of blood clung if one were to look closely enough. Rin sighed and stomped forward, yanking the picture down and crumbling it up in his fist. “It’s gone,” he informed Nitori, tossing it in the wastebasket. 

It took another few seconds before Nitori hesitantly removed his hands from his face and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around nervously, arms still poised in front of his body defensively before he eventually realized that the picture was indeed gone. “Th-thanks,” he mumbled, dropping his arms and looking away.

“Whatever.” Rin turned on his heel and made his way into the nearest shower stall, shooting glares at all the snickering boys along the way. 

Everyone on the team knew about Nitori’s fear. The boy was absolutely, positively terrified of sharks. Great white, hammerhead, bull, tiger… The very sight of them had the boy screaming and averting his gaze. When asked about it, Nitori couldn’t explain what about it exactly that scared him; all he knew was that the very sight of sharks sent a spasm of cold fear clutching his poor heart and it had been that way for as long as he could remember. Needless to say, his teammates found this to be a great source of entertainment. 

Rin, however, was never amused. 

Ever since the first time Nitori had run away shaking after glimpsing the picture of a shark on someone’s mobile, the pranksters – bullies – on the team had taken it upon themselves to scare Nitori as often as they could get away with. Most people got a good laugh about it, though Mikoshiba did tell them to knock it off every now and then. Rin was the only one who would come to Nitori’s defense every single time without fail. He’d toss away the pictures, snatch the phone of anyone who thought it would be funny to play the Jaws theme to see Nitori get twitchy, and even go so far as to threaten anyone who so much as mentioned the sea creature around the boy. 

And every single time, he’d roll his eyes and walk away from Nitori once it was all over, as if it was troublesome for him. Sometimes he’d even mutter something under his breath about how he didn’t understand why Nitori was such a scaredy cat about this, how sharks weren’t so bad. Nitori would just give him a shaky, grateful smile and apologize for having such an irrational fear.

This time was no exception and Nitori could only mumble out a quiet apology before Rin had walked away from him. With slumped shoulders and a heavy sigh, Nitori gathered his clothes and his towel, and then headed off to a shower stall of his own.

By the time everyone finished washing up and changing, most had forgotten about the little incident with Nitori. It happened so often that once the moment had passed, most thought nothing more of it. Nitori exited the locker rooms and headed outside to find Rin waiting for him. Once he saw Nitori, Rin pushed himself off the wall and together they began their walk back to the dorms. 

About halfway there, Nitori stopped in his tracks and smacked his palm against his forehead. “Ah, I left my water bottle!” he exclaimed. “I was so freaked out that I forgot to bring it with me.”

Rin sighed and stopped, turning to look at Nitori. “It’s not that important. You can get it tomorrow.” 

“I guess,” Nitori replied, looking back and forth between Rin and the building they had left a few minutes ago. “But I’m thirsty now, and my other bottle is back at the dorm. Either way, I’m going to have to wait.”

Rin reached into his bag and pulled out a red water bottle, which he then tossed to Nitori. “You can drink from mine. Let’s go.”

“A-Ah, thank you, senpai!” Nitori caught the bottle and popped the top open, taking a sip. He promptly spit it back out. “Bleh! Matsuoka-senpai, why is your water so salty? It tastes like the ocean.”

In a second, Rin had spun back around, snatching the still open water bottle from the gagging swimmer and shoving a blue bottle into his hands instead. “Wrong one,” he said hastily, stuffing the red one back into his bag. He slung his bag back up on his shoulder and started walking at a quicker pace, ignoring Nitori’s curious gaze and inquiries. 

It wasn’t until the next morning that Nitori realized that Rin’s clothes also smelled like seawater, but he shrugged it off, figuring that it must have just been some combination of Rin’s natural scent and the laundry detergent they used.

He had no explanation for all the rips and tears in Rin’s night clothes though.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the midst of the night, Nitori catches a glimpse of something he can't - shouldn't - believe is real.

Nitori awoke as a loud thump echoed throughout their small dorm room. He sat up in his bunk and rubbed his bleary eyes. His hand blinded patted under his pillow until he touched his phone, which he pulled out and opened. Nitori squinted against the harsh light; the time said 3 a.m. 

“Senpai,” he whispered, closing his phone. He kept his voice low just in case Rin was sleeping, but he was positive that his roommate had to be awake after such a loud noise. “Are you alright?” 

Silence. Then there was a low grunt from down below and Rin’s voice called out, “I’m fine. Go back to bed.” Then, there was a hushed noise, a soft whooshing that sounded like something was being slid across the floor- no, it heavier. Something was being dragged. 

“Senpai?” Nitori called nervously, shifting over to peer over the edge of his bed in the darkness. His eyes strained to see in the pitch blackness, but all he could detect was the swirling black blobs of the darkness himself. He heard Rin grunt quietly again and shout at him to go back to bed. Worried, Nitori flipped open his phone again and directed the light towards the ground. 

At first he could spot nothing in the artificial beam, so he moved his phone around, examining whatever he could see in the limited reveal of his phone light. Then, a foot or two away from the bathroom door, he saw it. Nitori sucked in a shuddering breath and his phone trembled in his grip.

The dull white-blue glow of his phone illuminated a sleek, grey tail, with what was undeniably a shark fin further up the length; the fish tail merged into what seemed to be grey tinged skin. Nitori eyes traveled up the human torso to land finally on Rin’s face. Thin rings of glowing red shone from behind soulless black, dilated pupils. Rin’s mouth was twisted into a grimace, lips thin and warped enough to reveal rows of fierce, sharp teeth that sent a chill down his spine. 

“Go to bed!” the creature – his roommate, Nitori had to remind himself – roared. 

Nitori’s breath quickened to a harsh pace – in, out, in out, inout, inoutinoutinout – until he was hyperventilating. He wanted to scream, cry out, do something, but all that he couldn’t get anything past the blockage in his throat. In fact, he couldn’t seem to get enough air. His heartbeat quivered in his chest, pulse thrumming through his veins. 

Within seconds, the swirling blackness that pervaded the room took over Nitori’s vision and he collapsed back in bed, phone falling onto the floor with a neglected clatter. 

When Nitori awoke a few hours later, the covers were pulled up to his chin and his phone was right by his side. He sat up with a groan, rubbing his temple with one hand as the other went to check the time: 6:47 a.m. 

He heard a flush and then out came Rin from the bathroom, damp from a recent shower and in his boxers. He had the same toned muscles, slightly tanned skin, ruby red eyes… He looked human.

“B-But you, I don’t, there was a-” Nitori stammered, pointing a shaking finger at Rin. He didn’t understand. He was certain of what he had seen, but now, in the morning light with Rin looking at him as if he were crazy, Nitori wasn’t so sure anymore.

“What the hell are you going on about?” the redhead asked as he put on his school uniform.

“I just… I could have sworn that last night, you… there was this weird shark creature r-right there on the floor and he looked just like-” Nitori started to explain but was quickly cut off by Rin.

“Sounds like you just had a bad dream. Stop freaking out over it,” he told him, giving him a stern look that clearly said he would not be dealing with Nitori’s foolishness this early in the morning. “Now get dressed or else you’ll be late.”

“Y-Yeah,” was all Nitori said. He took another few seconds to gather himself before carefully climbing down the ladder of their bunk and locking himself in the bathroom. 

He resisted the urge to touch Rin as he passed, if only to make sure that there would be flesh and not tough, grey skin under his fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, I know. I'm hoping that the rest are longer from here on out but I'm still working on it, so we'll see! I hope this is enough to keep you guys interested in poor Ai and Rin.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cold, wet, and dark make for a bad combination for Nitori's nervous mind.

Chapter 3

“Nitori.”

It was a hushed whisper in the night, a week or so following the previous incident. The grey-haired swimmer had been haunted every single day by the memory of his nightmare. 

_Nitori sat in his biology class, staring at his page, lost in thought. He had no choice but to believe Rin when the redhead dismissed his fears as a freaky fancy of the night, but… Nitori’s grip tightened on his pencil. Never had a dream been so vivid._

_Even now, in the middle of the day, he could clearly see that sleek grey shark tail, those black dead eyes, and those teeth-_

_“Psst, Nitori,” the classmate sitting beside him hissed. “Look at this.”_

_“Hm?” Pulled out of his reverie, Nitori turned to see what the boy was pointing to, only to jump back, aghast. The boy had flipped to the section on animal life and had showed a picture detailing a hammerhead shark in all its dark glory. Nitori let out a startled squeak._

_“Nitori! I ask that you don’t disturb my class with your nonsense,” the teacher reprimanded, giving the pair a sharp look._

_Nitori bowed his head and gave a meek, “Sorry, ma’am. It won’t happen again,” before sending his friend a glare that withered into a pout. His friend only snickered into his hand._

This time, it wasn’t a teacher, or his friend, or even some hallucination calling his name in the night. It was Rin’s. He was sure of it.

“Nitori!” There it was again- that urgent hiss coming from his beloved roommate. Nitori shot up in bed and crawled over to the bunk ladder in the darkness. He had no idea what time it was nor what Rin even wanted from him, but he knew it had to be important for Rin to be seeking him out at all.

“What’s wrong? Senpai, what happened?” he asked nervously. Once his feet touched the floor, he turned and noticed a light glowing from beneath the bathroom door. He stepped closer, wondering if perhaps Rin was sick. Maybe he needed Nitori to bring him some medicine?

The door opened a crack and something was flung out. The door was slammed shut once more before Nitori could so much as glance inside. He kneeled to pick up the object thrown at him. Even in the limited light, he could tell what it was; the shape and feel revealed it to be Rin’s water bottle. 

“Fill that up with ocean water! Go now, quickly.”

Nitori stared at the closed door in confusion. “What? But I-“

“Go!” Rin shouted and Nitori could hear the desperation that tinged his tone. “Remember, it has to be sea water,” he stressed.

“Tell me why! Please, Rin-senpai, you’re scaring me,” Nitori entreated, pushing his weight against the door. Uneasiness seeped into his chest and he banged more insistently against the wood. He just needed to see Rin, once, and make sure he was alright; after that, he’d go get whatever it was the redhead needed. 

With one heavy shove, something gave on Rin’s side and the door flew open. Nitori stumbled forward through the gap, narrowly avoiding tripping over a thick appendage in his path. Only a cold hand latching onto his arm kept him from falling.

Nitori turned, ready to thank Rin after such a close call, but he froze. What breath he had left in him escaped in a rush. On instinct, he yanked his arm away and backed up, staring at the other being in the small room in horror.

“Y-You, but, you said, and I- wahhh!” Nitori squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hands up to his face as he wailed, but nothing helped to remove the sight burned into his retinas. 

It was Rin, but it wasn’t the swimmer he knew; instead, it was the creature of his nightmare a few days ago. The whole situation felt more real than ever and Nitori could feel the panic setting in.

His roommate must have known this as well, because he spoke quickly, urgently. “Nitori, please! I need you to go now and get this for me! I promise I’ll explain when you get back. Just fucking go, damn it.” 

Nitori took a deep breath, forcing away the terror threatening to overwhelm him. He shakily stood, peering through the slits between his fingers just enough to see his way out of the bathroom. He stepped carefully over Rin’s tail and picked up the water bottle from before. It was only once he was fully out of the tiny bathroom that he dropped his hands and even then, he didn’t turn back. He rushed straight for the door, pausing only once to grab his own water bottle as an afterthought. Nitori didn’t know how much water Rin needed or why, but he figured the more he could bring back, the better. 

Once he was out the dormitory and into the crisp night air, Nitori realized for the first time that he was so panicked, he didn’t quite think through where exactly he planned on going. He hovered about the school gates, lost and fearful. 

“Shit,” he swore, and the sound of his own voice brought him back to the reality of the situation. He was panicked, he was scared, and he was utterly confused, but more than anything Rin needed his help.

Without giving it another moment’s hesitation, he ran. He had no idea how long it took, but the moon lit up his way for what seemed like hours as he ran to the nearby shoreline. Every now and then his pace would slow and his steps would grow heavy and sluggish, but a cold night breeze that he swore belonged to wet monster of the night would chill his neck and he’d run faster. Sometimes, when a stray droplet of water hit his skin or when he’d catch a dark shadow lurking in his peripheral, Nitori ran not to reach his destination, but to escape the horror chasing after him. 

Soon enough Nitori reached the beach and the sight of the ocean during the night made it seem larger, more ominous. He shuddered to think what sort of insidious monsters hid just beneath that wavering, moonlit surface. His hands trembled as he unscrewed the lid of Rin’s plastic water bottle and dipped it into the swelling ocean waves. When that was filled, he clumsily replaced the lid and went about filling his own bottle. 

It took all of his strength not to cry out when the water touched his hand, bringing with its caress a stark mental image of that creature which he abhorred the most. 

But the moment finally passed and he was running again. Pure fear – both for Rin and himself – was the only thing driving him as he pumped his legs to go faster than he had at any practice with the swim team. 

Despite feeling as though he had been gone for eternity, the moon was still high in the sky as he snuck back into the dormitory. It took him a few tries to get the key into the lock, but once he did he pushed the door open, gasping for air as he stumbled forward. 

“I… I got it,” he wheezed out, dropping the water bottles to the floor in the general area of the bathroom door before collapsing on the floor. Luckily the bottles rolled the rest of the way and Rin only had to open the door a crack to retrieve them. Meanwhile, Nitori closed his eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart and mind.

Rin didn’t reply. If Nitori had been listening closely enough, he might have heard his roommate loudly gulping down the seawater. Instead though, all Nitori could hear was his own ragged breathing as he rocked back and forth on the floor, trying to keep frightened tears at bay. 

Time ticked on and though Nitori felt exhausted, he was no closer to sleep than he had been a few hours ago. He needed answers that he didn’t truly want to hear, and he knew he had to speak to Rin before anything else could happen this crazy night. 

Just when Nitori was thinking of mustering the courage and the oxygen needed to finally say something, Rin saved him the trouble. 

“I suppose I can’t convince you that this is all just a bad dream, huh?” he said, voice tired and humorless.

Nitori thought back to a few nights ago. “No, you can’t,” he whispered, staring at the bathroom door. 

Rin sighed. “Right. Well, sit down. It’s a long story.”

Trembling with anxious fear and dreadful curiosity, Nitori wrapped his hands around his knees and waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a bit of an info dump, I'm afraid. Unless I can find a less boring way to have Rin explain what happened to him! Ah, well, I'll take the time to figure something out.


End file.
